“You pulled the lever. This is what you were voting for.” More …
IMF Cuts U.S. Growth Forecasts, Cites Trump Fiscal Plan Uncertainty
“The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its growth forecasts for the U.S. economy to 2.1 percent for both 2017 and 2018, dropping its assumption that President Donald Trump’s tax cut and fiscal spending plans would boost growth. The IMF, after a review of U.S. economic policy, said the Trump administration was unlikely to achieve its goal of annual GDP growth of 3 percent over a sustained period, partly because the labor market is at a level consistent with full employment. The U.S. economy grew 1.6 percent last year.” More …
Russian Official Linked to South Florida Biker Club Spent Millions on Trump condos
“Out-of-town money pouring into South Florida real estate is as old as Henry Flagler. But the tale of Igor Zorin offers a 21st-century twist with all the weirdness modern Miami has to offer: Russian cash, a motorcycle club named after Russia’s powerful special forces and a condo tower branded by Donald Trump.” More …
Even Donald Trump’s Schedule Has Become a Victim of a White House Push Against Transparency
“First they came for the on-camera briefings. Now the White House press office is marking President Donald Trump’s daily schedule as non-reportable — marking one more step in what both media and free speech watchdogs are calling out as an continuing effort to hamper coverage of the administration.” More …
When Will Climate Change Make the Earth Too Hot For Humans?
“Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think.” More …
GOP Super PAC Linked to Paul Ryan Used Illegally Russian Hacked Material Against Democratic House Candidates: Report
“The New York Times reports The Congressional Leadership Fund used info leaked by Russian hackers in campaign ads.” More …
Russia Sanctions Bill Stalled by GOP Over Energy Provisions
“House Republicans are throwing up new roadblocks to a Russia and Iran sanctions bill over concerns from the energy industry that a provision could block U.S. companies from lucrative foreign oil deals.” More …
Russian Officials Discussed Election as Early as Mid-2015, Says Former U.S. official
“Electronic intercepts picked up Russian officials discussing the 2016 U.S. presidential election — and how they could influence it — as early as mid-2015, a former U.S. official familiar with the intelligence told CBS News.” More …
Trump’s Long History with Russia Just Got a Lot More Complicated
“It begins in 1987, before the Soviet Union crumbled, when Trump mused in “The Art of the Deal” about building a hotel ‘across the street from the Kremlin,’ in partnership with the Soviet government. The hotel never got built, but Trump didn’t give up on Moscow.” More …
Week 8: Russians Bearing Dirt Come Calling and a Scandal Finds a Home
“The scandal with no name took an accelerating turn this week as the New York Times uncoiled three stunning stories about a June 9, 2016, meeting in Trump Tower where Donald Trump’s president’s kin and campaign brain trust conferred with a Russian emissary and her entourage. The naming convention for political scandals insists that we incorporate a place name into it—Watergate, Teapot Dome, Whitewater, Chappaquiddick, My Lai, Abu Ghraib, Iran Contra, et al. In observance of this rule, the disquieting meeting in which a Russian offered dirt on Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and then-campaign director Paul Manafort in the Manhattan skyscraper suggests “Trump Kowtower” as the carnival’s best appellation.” More …